In the sudden realization that like, hey, maybe we shouldn’t put people to death if we don’t really know what we’re doing, Ohio has dropped its two-drug execution method and will delay an imminent execution.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction today announced that it will stop using the method utilizing a combination of the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone, which came under fire last year when it took 26 minutes to put convicted killer Dennis McGuire to death. Witnesses said McGuire was gasping for breath during his execution. His family is suing the state, claiming the execution caused needless pain and suffering.

Another execution in Arizona last year using the same method took more than two hours.

The state has said it will again use thiopental sodium, a sedative used until 2011, for executions. Ohio stopped using that drug because it is no longer produced in the United States. It is unclear how Ohio plans to obtain the drug, though compounding pharmacies, or labs that produce such drugs, could supply the state.

The announcement delays the execution of Ronald Phillips, who was convicted in the 1993 rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl. Officials say other executions may be delayed as well as the state sources the third drug or an alternative.

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Mayor John Cranley appears to be working on another
parking deal to upgrade Cincinnati’s parking meters, although the
mayor’s office says this plan won’t give up control of the city’s parking
meters to a private entity. At the same time, it seems the deal won’t
produce a large lump-sum like the defunct parking privatization plan
did. Cranley and other opponents of the old parking plan have long said
that, even without privatization, the city’s parking meters need to be
upgraded to accept credit card payments, among other modern features.

The warden who oversaw Dennis McGuire’s 26-minute,
seemingly painful execution says it went “very well.” The execution, the
longest since Ohio restarted use of the death penalty in 1999, drew
international attention, particularly because many blamed the long time
to kill on the state’s use of a cocktail of drugs never tried before in
the United States. The warden’s statements essentially reject those
concerns. Still, state officials say they’re conducting a third review
of McGuire’s execution in particular, which is apparently uncommon. CityBeat covered the execution in further detail here.

An Ohio House bill could boost funding to local
governments affected by the fracking boom by hiking the severance tax on
oil and gas companies. Fracking is a drilling technique in which
millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground
to unlock oil and gas reserves. Its widespread use has spurred an
economic boom across the country, including northeast Ohio. While it’s
boosted the overall economy, it’s also raised environmental and
displacement concerns, particularly in areas where the boom is most
active. CityBeat covered the fracking boom in further detail here.

In response to complaints about slow snow plowing, the
city tweeted, “We’ve got 2,800+ lane miles to clear. It’s going to take
some time. Please, go slow & be patient today as our crews work
’round-the-clock.”

In light of yesterday’s “debate” over evolution and biblical creationism, here are four things the anti-science crowd denies.

For some, Dennis McGuire’s 26-minute, seemingly painful
execution raises constitutional and ethical questions about Ohio’s use
of the death penalty. In particular, the convicted killer’s family and
medical experts say the state’s use of a new cocktail of drugs presented
problems even before McGuire was killed, with one Harvard professor of
anesthesia warning the state prior to the execution that its dosage was
too low for McGuire’s size and the drugs inadequate. Jonathan Groner, a
professor of clinical surgery at Ohio State University, told CityBeat, “I wouldn’t want what he got to have my appendix out. … I would be concerned that I would feel something.”

Hamilton County commissioners yesterday accepted a Mount
Airy facility offered to the county as a gift by Catholic Health
Partners, with plans to use the former hospital as the campus for a new
crime lab. The acceptance came despite previous warnings that the Mount
Airy facility could not be taken in by the county if the Board of
Elections didn’t also move its office and early voting to the Mount
Airy location, where only one bus line runs, from its current downtown
office. A party-line tie vote left the Board of Elections move in limbo,
with a tie-breaking decision expected from the Republican secretary of
state in the next few weeks. Democrats oppose the move because it would
limit voting access for people who rely on public transportation, while
Republicans argue free parking at the new facility would outweigh the
loss of bus access.

Officials plan to break ground today on the Anna Louise
Inn’s new location at Mount Auburn. The start of construction marks the
beginning of the next chapter for the Inn afters its owner, Cincinnati
Union Bethel (CUB), lost a contentious legal battle against
financial giant Western & Southern. CUB sought to keep the Inn at
the location it has been at since 1909, while Western & Southern aimed to claim the property to invoke its full development vision on the Lytle
Park neighborhood. After two years of litigation, both sides reached a
settlement in which CUB agreed to move.

With bipartisan support, the Ohio House cleared a bill that
reduces the costs and speeds up the process of adoptions. But some
Democrats worry the bill goes too far by shortening the period a
putative father must register with the state if he wants to be able to
consent to an adoption.

Meanwhile, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune says
he’s talking to former Toledo Mayor Jack Ford as a potential running
mate in a Democratic primary challenge against gubernatorial candidate
Ed FitzGerald. With less than one week left, Portune needs to name a
running mate and gather 1,000 valid petition signatures to actually run —
a prospect that’s looking dimmer by the day.

Local early voting could move from downtown to Mount Airy, where only one bus line runs, following a split, party-line vote from the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Democrats oppose the move because they say it will make early voting less accessible to people who rely on public transportation to make it to the ballot box. Republicans support the move as part of a plan to consolidate some county services, particularly a new crime lab, at the Mount Airy facility. With the board split, Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, could step in to break the tie vote.

Gov. John Kasich called for a one-time increase in the number of school calamity days to cope with the unusually severe winter weather this year. Under state law, schools are normally allowed five calamity days before extra days off start chipping into summer break. The state legislature must approve legislation to enact the temporary increase.

Ohio officials found no substantial evidence
that a public defender coached convicted killer Dennis McGuire to fake
suffocation during his execution. Eye-witness accounts report McGuire
visibly struggled, snorted and groaned as he took 26 minutes to die — the longest execution since Ohio restarted using the death penalty in 1999.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Senate continues working on a proposal that would weaken Ohio's renewable energy and efficiency standards. But it's unclear if the new attempt will be any more successful than State Sen. Bill Seitz's failed, years-long crusade against the Clean Energy Law.

Local Democrats endorsed Christie Bryant for an open seat in the Ohio House, even though five interviewed for the position and could run in the Democratic primary. Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke previously told CityBeat local Democrats endorse prior to a primary in some special situations. In this case, the party wanted to guarantee a black candidate, and Bryant is the most qualified, according to Burke.

Former Mayor Mark Mallory took a job with the Pennsylvania-based Chester Group, which provides "energy, water and wastewater solutions to public and industrial clients across the United States and internationally," according to a press release.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald on Wednesday told
reporters he supports the death penalty — a position that
aligns him with his Republican opponent, Gov. John Kasich.

The debate over the death penalty recently re-ignited in
Ohio after state officials took 26 minutes to kill Dennis McGuire, a
convicted killer and rapist, with a cocktail of drugs never tried before
in the United States. It remains unclear if the drugs prolonged McGuire’s death or if other factors are to blame.

Asked whether the state should place a moratorium on the death penalty in response to the botched execution, FitzGerald said state officials should investigate McGuire’s
execution.

“I think they have to go through a very thorough and
exhaustive review of how that unfolded and if it can be done in a way
that meets the commonly accepted standards,” he responded.

FitzGerald said he based his support for the death penalty
on his experiences as a special agent for the FBI and assistant
Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

“I understand there’s … legitimate moral concerns about it, and I respect people that have a different opinion on that,” he said.

Fiscal conservatives and tea party activists won more
seats on local school boards last year, putting them in the awkward
position of supposedly looking out for the school’s best interests while
rejecting property tax levies that could boost schools’ resources and outcomes. As one example, a member of the Coalition
Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) now sits on the board for Kings Schools in Warren County that she once sued for public records.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on Sunday
called on Gov. John Kasich to immediately halt the death penalty across
the state, following the botched, 26-minute execution of convicted
killer Dennis McGuire. The execution, the longest since Ohio restarted using
capital punishment again in 1999, utilized a new cocktail of drugs that had
never been tried before in the United States. It’s unclear whether
state officials will use the same drugs for the five other executions
planned for the year.

David Pepper, the Democratic candidate for attorney
general, says Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine should stop
defending court-rejected, unconstitutional voting and ballot restrictions. DeWine argues that it’s the attorney general’s job to
defend Ohio and its laws, regardless of his opinion on constitutionality. But
DeWine actually stepped aside and assigned a separate attorney to a case
involving restrictions on “false statements” in political campaigns
because, according to him, the law’s constitutionality is questionable.

Martin Luther King Jr. and modern Republicans would likely
stand in opposition on numerous issues, including voting rights, the
death penalty and reproductive rights.

A top policy aide for Gov. Kasich says local
governments should share more services. But some municipal officials argue the Kasich
administration is just trying to deflect criticisms regarding local government
funding cuts carried out by his Republican administration and the
Republican-controlled legislature over the past few years.

The Justice Department is investigating a former chief
judge of Cincinnati’s federal appeals court for nearly $140,000 in
travel expenses he took during his four and a half years on the bench.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio on
Sunday asked Gov. John Kasich to halt the death penalty across the
state, following the botched execution of convicted killer Dennis McGuire
that reportedly lasted 26 minutes.

McGuire’s prolonged execution, the longest since Ohio
resumed capital punishment in 1999, was carried out on Jan. 16 with a
new cocktail of drugs that had never been tried before in the United
States. The use of the new drugs came about after Ohio ran out of its
previous supplies.

With its letter, the ACLU joined other groups, including
Ohioans to Stop Executions, in calling for an end or pause to
state-sanctioned killing.

“This is not about Dennis McGuire, his terrible crimes, or
the crimes of others who await execution on death row,” reads the ACLU
letter. “It is about our duty as a society that sits in judgment of
those who are convicted of crimes to treat them humanely and ensure
their punishment does not violate the Constitution.”

The letter adds, “We are mere months away from new
recommendations from the Ohio Supreme Court Taskforce on the
Administration of the Death Penalty that could alter our system for the
better. On the eve of monumental changes, along with increasing problems
with lethal injection, is not now the time to step back and pause?”

McGuire’s family also announced on Friday it would file a lawsuit claiming his death constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Five more people await execution in Ohio this year, according to the ACLU. It’s
unclear whether the state will use the same cocktail of drugs following
McGuire’s execution.

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A condemned Ohio killer took more than 20 minutes to die in an execution carried out yesterday with a combination of drugs never tried before in the United States. The execution was one of the longest since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999. Throughout the nearly 25 minutes that Dennis McGuire took to die, he reportedly gasped and loudly snorted as family members and reporters watched. McGuire's attorney called the execution "a failed, agonizing experiment" and added, "The people of the state of Ohio should be appalled at what was done here today in their names." The new execution method was adopted after the previous drug's supplies ran out because a manufacturer declared it off limits for state-sanctioned kills.

State Rep. Alicia Reece and other activists are pushing a Voter Bill of Rights that could end up in front of Ohio voters in November. If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would preserve the 35-day early voting period, expand early voting hours, allow voters to cast a provisional ballot anywhere in the county and advance online voter registration. Many of those measures are controversial to Republicans, who have repeatedly tried to limit early voting in the past couple years. But to get the amendment on the ballot, activists will need to wade through the long, costly process of gathering roughly 385,000 eligible signatures by July 2.

Cincinnati's campaign for universal preschool is looking for volunteers to help raise awareness and shape the final proposal. The big question is how tuition credits for local families, particularly low-income parents, would be funded under the proposal. Despite the remaining questions, voters could vote on the initiative in November. CityBeat covered the Preschool Promise in greater detail here.

The National Weather Service called a Winter Weather Advisory
for most of the Cincinnati area until 4 p.m. today. Drivers should
expect reduced visibility and one or two inches of snow, mostly before
noon.

As expected, Ohio officials appealed a ruling that forces the state to acknowledge same-sex marriages on death certificates.

The University of Cincinnati is spending more than $500,000 this year on
lights, cameras and off-duty patrols, among other measures, to address continuing concerns about violent crimes around campus.
But some students and parents say the school should pursue more
aggressive efforts, such as selling anti-crime tools in the campus
bookstore.

Opponents of H.B. 7, a new law that will enforce Ohio's ban on Internet cafes that promote illegal gambling operation,failed to gather enough signatures for a referendum.The law, signed by Gov. John Kasich on June 4, goes into effect today.

Fountain Square's new locally-owned, independent bookstore and cafe, The Booksellers, hosts its grand opening today and Saturday. Read CityBeat's interview with Booksellers owner and founder of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Neil Van Uum, here. Entertainment Group 4EG is offering "government shutdown discounts" to all federal workers who can produce a government ID at its locations: Get $2 domestic beers at Igby's, The Lackman, Righteous Room, Pavilion, Sandbar, The Stand, St. Clair and Tap & Go, plus discounted appetizers at its Keystone Bar & Grill locations.

Ohio's revised execution policy maintains use of pentobarbital in its death-penalty protocol, but now allows the state to secure the drug from compounding pharmacies. The state has currently been securing the drug, in short supply all across the country, from manufacturers and distributors. The revisions, however, don't address the shortage of the drug, which the state claimed it ran out of after using it to administer Harry Mitts Jr.'s exuection on Sept. 25.

Ten thousand Pacific walruses have beached themselves on a remote island off Alaska's northwest coast,unable to find sea ice as the result of climate change.

Fox News is being sued for broadcasting footage of an Arizona man shoot himself in the head on live air at the end of a car case on Sept. 28, 2012.

Dusty Baker has been canned from his position as Reds manager three days after his team lost the National League Wild Card game to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Mariam Carey, the dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., who was killed outside the Capitol building yesterday in a high-speed police car chase after she allegedly tried to ram the White House gates,suffered from post-partum depression.

Here are the six best science lessons we've learned from Walter White.

Have any questions for City Council candidates? It's your last chance to submit them here and we may choose your questions at tomorrow's candidate forum at 7 p.m. at the Greenwich in Walnut Hills.

Early voting for the 2013 City Council and mayoral elections is now underway. Find your voting location here. Normal voting hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., although some days will be extended.

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State Rep. John Becker, a Cincinnati Republican, is pushing to expand the death penalty
to include some sex-related crimes. His proposal, made Friday, would
allow the state to consider execution in cases of rape, sexual battery
and improper sexual contact if the suspect has a previous sex crime
conviction and there are aggravating circumstances. Becker says he was
inspired to propose the death penalty expansion after hearing about three
Cleveland women who were kidnapped, held and raped for years by Ariel Castro before they escaped in May. But
Castro, who was convicted earlier this month, wouldn’t have been
eligible for the death penalty under Becker’s plan because he didn’t have a previous sex crime conviction.

Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) officials are developing a 10-year plan for the school district,
following in the footsteps of the Columbus and Cleveland systems and
their unique plans. The school district is asking for more community
support and $29 million from the state to, among other plans, boost its
community learning center initiative, a nationally recognized program
that turns schools into community hubs with extra services such as
dental care and college preparation; expand early education, which is
often heralded as one of the best economic investments; and provide more options through charter schools, which have generally performed worse than public schools but provide more choices for students.
Unlike the other big city systems, CPS has posted decent academic
ratings in the past few years, so the changes might not be as drastic
or require legislative involvement.

The Over-the-Rhine Foundation will use an $8,000 grant
from the Ohio Development Services Agency and Ohio Historic
Preservation Office to help revitalize approximately 13 buildings in the
neighborhood. The grant will allow the Over-the-Rhine Foundation to
research and apply for federal designation on the National Register of
Historic Places, which would unlock more tax credits for the buildings
and area. The rest of the money for the project will come from private
funds. “Exciting things are happening in Over-the-Rhine,” said David
Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, in a
statement. “Helping the neighborhood receive this historic designation
will allow the continued revitalization of this growing community.”

A 12-year-old electronics prodigy and teacher is working on a plan to revamp the U.S. education system to make it more fun.

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Ohio death row inmate Billy Slagle, who was scheduled to be executed on Aug. 7 was found hanged in his cell on Sunday.

Slagle, who fatally stabbed his neighbor 17 times in 1987, was recently denied clemency by Gov. John Kasich, despite a rare request from prosecutors to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison. CityBeat last week covered the situation here.

The restraining order granted last month to Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, the gay Ohio couple who in July flew to Maryland to officially tie the knot after 20 years of marriage, is set to expire today, meaning the judge overseeing the case must either renew the restraining order or issue a preliminary injunction. Arthur, who suffers from debilitating ALS, a neurological disease, is not expected to live much longer, which is why the two are fighting for their marriage to be recognized in their home state; in the case of Arthur’s death, Obergefell wants to be rightfully listed as his “surviving spouse.”

The first in-vitro hamburger, made of edible beef cells without actually killing a cow, was served today in London. According to food experts, the mouthfeel is similar to a conventional hamburger, but the traditional fatty flavor is still lacking.

A pool of mosquitoes in Dayton's Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark has tested positive for the West Nile virus, the first in the region this season.

Two Pennsylvania children have been prevented from discussing fracking for the rest of their lives under the terms of a gag order issued to their family in a settlement from drilling company Range Resources, who offered the children's family $750,000 to relocate from their fracking-polluted home, where they suffered from "burning eyes, sore throats, headaches and earaches" and other ailments as a result of their proximity to Range's drilling.

Although this year’s cuts are being undone, City Hall has been cutting resources
to the homeless, long-term unemployed, crime victims and casualties of
domestic abuse since 2004. Aid to those groups is part of human services
funding, which is supposed to receive 1.5 percent of the operating
budget but currently gets a quarter of that at 0.4 percent. To explain
the decade of cuts, the city administration typically points to citizen
surveys and meetings conducted as part of the priority-driven budgeting
process. But a CityBeat analysis of the demographics of the process found they were skewed in favor of the wealthiest
Cincinnatians and against low-income people, who benefit the most from
human services. For the agencies that receive funding, the history of cuts is even
more worrying as Cincinnati prepares for more budget gaps in the next
few years.

The state of Ohio will execute Billy Slagle on Aug. 7,
even though the prosecutor’s office behind the charges asked the Ohio
Parole Board to grant him clemency. The parole board denied the request,
and Gov. John Kasich last week declined to commute the sentence to life
in prison. Slagle was convicted in 1988 of murdering a 40-year-old
woman in a gruesome stabbing. His family says he was in an alcohol- and
drug-fueled haze at the time and has a history of problems at home, including
domestic abuse, that presents extenuating circumstances.

Two longshot mayoral candidates are really upset
about Cincinnati’s primary system: Independent Sandra “Queen” Noble
sent an F-bomb-laden email to debate organizers, and Libertarian Jim
Berns quit the race. Under the current primary system, multiple mayoral
candidates are allowed to run. But come Sept. 10, voters will select the
top two contenders in a primary. Those frontrunners will then face off
in a final election on Nov. 5 to pick who will take over City Hall on
Dec. 1. Noble and Berns claim the current system favors the two
frontrunners — Democrats Roxanne Qualls and John Cranley — by helping
them get the most exposure through televised debates after the primary
election.

Cranley has raised more money
than Qualls in the mayoral race, according to campaign finance reports
filed yesterday. Cranley has raised about $472,000, compared to $348,000
for Qualls. Cranley also has about $264,000 in the bank, while the
Qualls campaign has about $192,000 in hand.

Undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children will be eligible for in-state tuition
at Ohio public colleges, following a decision from the Ohio Board of
Regents. The change will save the students thousands of dollars at the
state’s public schools, which were charging exorbitant out-of-state and
international rates before. The undocumented immigrants qualify for
legal benefits because of an executive order signed by President Barack Obama earlier in the year
that prevents the federal government from prosecuting them. The order
falls short of actual legalization on the books, but it grants many benefits under state and federal law.

During a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises
in Aurora, Colorado last night, a gunman walked into a theater, threw
tear gas, and opened fire. Police identified James Holmes as
the suspect in the shooting. Twelve were killed and at least 50 were
wounded. On Twitter, one witness lamented that “there is no dark knight,
no hero, that could save us from anything like this.”

Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig will learn later this summer if he'll be required to undergo additional training and take the state police exam. Craig and his attorneys yesterday told the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission about his 36 years of policing experience.

This summer, Ohio families will receive health
insurance rebates as part of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care
Act. The average family will receive $139. In total, Ohioans will be getting back $11.3 million.

The task force heard presentations from the Law Enforcement Subcommittee, Race and Ethnicity Subcommittee and Clemency Subcommittee; the Clemency Subcommittee's recommendation was passed, while the Law Enforcement Subcommittee's recommendations were tabled for the next task force meeting, pending further review.

The Race and Ethnicity Subcommittee presented recommendations for dealing with evidence of longstanding racial bias in Ohio death penalty cases.

A 2005 Associated Press study concluded that offenders
who killed white victims were significantly more likely to receive
the death penalty than when victims were black, regardless of the race
of the defendant. See the below chart, courtesy of the Associated Press, which charts the rate of death sentencing for defendants charged with killing white versus black victims during the course of the study, which was conducted from Oct. 1981-2002. The Supreme Court’s Race and Ethnicity subcommittee made seven recommendations, three of which passed. Those passed include a mandate that all attorneys and judges in death penalty cases attend training to detect and protect against racial bias, and that attorneys must seek recusal of judges who are suspected of being motivated by racially discriminatory factors. Implementing the recommendations won't be immediate; according to Bret Crow, Public Information Officer for the Supreme Court of Ohio, task forces typically submit a final report to the Ohio Supreme Court for input, a process that might not be completed until into 2013.

Recommendations that were tabled to be reconsidered at a Sept. 27 meeting of the task force included the recommendation that all death penalty-eligible homicide cases be maintained and monitored for evidence of racial bias by the Office of the Ohio Public Defender.

According to the Associated Press,
the data collection would apply to both old cases and any future
homicides that could result in death penalty allegations. It wouldn’t, however, impact whether or not the death penalty should be an option of punishment in the state of Ohio. Ohio’s death penalty has come under fire several times over the last year, even experiencing an extendedmoratorium on executions set forth by a U.S. District Judge, who ruled that Ohio unconstitutionally wasn’t following its own death penalty procedure and couldn’t be trusted to ethically carry out executions.

CityBeatreported on July 3 about the avoided execution of Abdul Awkal, a Muslim who narrowly escaped his death penalty sentence with the help of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center (OJPC). Awkal was ruled not competent enough to be executed after making several statements suggesting he didn’t understand the reason for his execution.

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Hamilton County has been killing people more often than Ohio counties of similar size, despite actually asking for the death penalty less often. Today'sEnquirer takes a look at the growing opposition to the death
penalty in other states and recent legislation and task forces aimed
at either studying its effectiveness or stopping the practice
altogether. Prosecutor Joe Deters says he's going to kill all the people who deserve it because the law is still the law.

Would you like to pay tolls or higher
gas taxes in order to have a new Brent Spence Bridge? No? Then you're
like a majority of people who take the time to respond to Enquirer polls.

City Manager Milton Dohoney plans to
ask City Council to raise the property tax rate in response to a
projected $33 million 2013 deficit that everyone knows was coming.

So last Thursday Romney held a surprise
press conference at Solyndra's shuttered headquarters. During his
prepared statement, Romney said:

"An independent inspector general
looked at this investment and concluded that the Administration had
steered money to friends and family and campaign contributors."

Romney then repeated the claim later in
the press conference.

Small problem: No inspector
general ever "concluded" such a thing, at least not based
on any written reports or public statements.

Wisconsin Gov./Union Crusher Scott
Walker holds a slight lead over his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett, according to a recent poll.

George Zimmerman is back in jail after
what his attorney is calling a misunderstanding over telling a judge
that he had limited money even though a website set up to fund his
legal defense raised more than $135,000.

Connecticut will soon join the list of states that have ended
the use of capital punishment.

In an 86-63 vote, legislators in Connecticut’s House of
Representatives passed the bill Wednesday night. The state Senate approved the
measure April 5, in a 20-16 vote.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a
Democrat, has indicated he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk,
probably sometime this week. A similar bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Jodi Rell,
a Republican, in 2009.

Connecticut’s law is
prospective in nature, and won’t affect the sentences of the 11 people
currently on the state’s death row.

In the last five years, New
Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Illinois have repealed the death penalty,
according to CNN. California voters will decide the issue in November.

Other states that have
abolished capital punishment are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and
Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, a man who spent 21 years on Ohio’s death row until he was
exonerated in 2010 will speak tonight at a forum in Clifton.

Joe D’Ambrosio
will discuss his experience and
why he believes the death penalty should be scrapped at 6:30 p.m. at the St.
Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center, located at 328 W. McMillan St. D’Ambrosio
will be joined by the Rev. Neil Kookoothe, a Roman Catholic priest who worked
to get him released.

D’Ambrosio was wrongfully
convicted of the 1988 murder of Anthony Klann in Cleveland. Cuyahoga County
prosecutors withheld 10 pieces of evidence that would have exonerated
D’Ambrosio at his trial and implicated another suspect in the crime, a judge
ruled in March 2010.

D’Ambrosio is the
140th Death Row exoneration in the United States since 1973 and the sixth
in Ohio.

This week’s Porkopolis column
looks at a report from Amnesty International about the use of capital
punishment throughout the world, and how the United States is one of the only
industrialized nations that still condones the practice.

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Gov. John Kasich today
denied a request for executive clemency from Mark Wayne Wiles, who
was convicted in 1986 of the murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima in the
northeast Ohio township of Rootstown.

Wiles is scheduled to
be executed April 18 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in
Lucasville. According to the clemency report, members of the Ohio
Parole Board on March 2 interviewed Wiles via video-conference from
the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, after which arguments in
support of and in opposition to clemency were presented. The board
voted 8-0 against recommending clemency.

Ohio was subjected to a
moratorium on executions from November of 2011 until April 4, 2012,
when U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost of Newark lifted the
moratorium he invoked for the state’s inability to follow its own execution
protocol. The moratorium was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court
in February.

CityBeat reported here
that despite lifting the moratorium, Frost expressed frustration with
the state’s problems carrying out executions, despite the errors
being largely minor paperwork technicalities, including “not
properly documenting that an inmate’s medical files were reviewed
and switching the official whose job it was to announce the start and
finish times of the lethal injection.”

From CityBeat’s
Politics/Issues blog April 6:

Since the
moratorium, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has
allegedly scrutinized its procedural policies and implemented a new
"Incident Command System," which sounds like an initiative
for ORDC Director Gary Mohr to more closely micromanage the processes
during state executions.

"This court is therefore
willing to trust Ohio just enough to permit the scheduled execution,"
Frost wrote regarding his rejection of Wiles' stay of execution. "The
court reaches this conclusion with some trepidation given Ohio's
history of telling this court what (they) think they need to say in
order to conduct executions and then not following through on
promised reforms."

To date, Ohio has executed 386 convicted murderers. Click here for a schedule of upcoming executions in Ohio and here for recent clemency reports. ]]>

Ohioans to Stop Executions and other human rights groups are asking Gov. John Kasich to halt any further executions of inmates until the Ohio Supreme Court completes its review of the state’s death penalty process.

The groups, which include the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC) in Cincinnati, say the U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to review an August 2011 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. That means the exoneration of Death Row inmate Joe D’Ambrosio is upheld.---

The denial was announced today by John Q. Lewis and David Mills, D’Ambrosio’s attorneys.

D’Ambrosio was wrongfully convicted of the 1988 murder of Anthony Klann in Cleveland. Cuyahoga County prosecutors withheld 10 pieces of evidence that would have exonerated D’Ambrosio at his trial and implicated another suspect in the crime, a judge ruled in March 2010. D’Ambrosio had spent 21 years in prison while awaiting execution and appealing his case.

D’Ambrosio is the 140th Death Row exoneration in the United States since 1973 and the sixth in Ohio.

“This case exemplifies one of the most serious flaws of our death penalty system — the dangerous risk Ohio runs of executing someone for a crime he didn’t commit,” said Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, in a prepared statement.

“Joe D’Ambrosio is exonerated today by sheer coincidence. It was a coincidence that Joe met Rev. Neil Kookoothe who is trained as a lawyer and critical care nurse and that Rev. Kookoothe was willing to look closely at this case,” Werner added. “Coincidence is not the standard we should be comfortable with when our justice system is seeking to execute people.”

In a statement issued today, IJPC said: “It's crystal clear that executions must stop in Ohio. No one should be executed under a system of justice while that very system is being closely examined to assess its fairness and accuracy.”

IJPC is urging people to call Kasich at 614-466-3555 and tell him to impose the moratorium on executions.

Statistics show that 94 nations — including most democracies like Canada and those in the European Union — have abolished capital punishment, while 10 others only allow it under special circumstances.

Fifty-eight nations allow the death penalty, with most of them totalitarian in nature like China, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. The United States, Japan and Singapore are the only fully developed countries that still use the death penalty.

Ohioans to Stop Executions is a nonprofit organization that includes faith and community leaders, activists, attorneys, Death Row exonerees and murder victims’ families who work toward abolishing the death penalty in Ohio.

The income gap between white and black
families in the Cincinnati area is larger than the U.S. average.
(Insert racist comment [here].) According to The Enquirer's Mark
Curnutte (who formerly covered the Bengals beat but probably got
tired of how dumb it was):

In the city, the median household
income in 2010 for whites was $46,615 and $22,216 for blacks. In the
county, the median household income was $53,967 for whites and
$27,619 for blacks. The 2010 federal poverty level for a family of
four was $22,050.

City Council yesterday approved $21
million in infrastructure work so there will be sidewalks and roads
around the new casino. Chris Bortz was the only dissenter, but he
also thinks it's cool to split 3's in Blackjack so no one was really
surprised.

Troy Davis was killed yesterday by the
state of Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his
latest request for a stay of execution. Davis, whose conviction of a
1989 murder has been doubted due to multiple witnesses changing their
testimony or alleging that police coerced them, reportedly addressed
the victim's family from the gurney, proclaimed his innocence and
asked mercy for those about to kill him.

Annoyed with your new FaceBook layout?
There will soon be an iPad app you can complain about. The company is
going to meet with some developers and entrepreneurs this week to
discuss creating more things for people to hate but still use all the
time.

A new report suggests that Ohio health
insurance costs could either go up a lot or down quite a bit when the
national health care overhaul takes full effect in 2014. Lt. Gov.
Mary Taylor called the situation “alarming” then later used the
term “Obamacare” and lost all credibility on the matter.

Regarding Issue 48, the
Chamber stated, “The charter amendment would prohibit city spending
or appropriating funds for a streetcar system before 2020. The
Chamber does not support any measure that eliminates the community’s
ability to develop transportation or other economic development
projects.”

The Enquirer posted this story
yesterday, titled “Exchange of looks led to I-75 shooting, crash,”
which probably should have been titled, “Exchange of looks led to
I-75 shooting, crash, according to a witness, said a police
spokeswoman.” A simple “allegedly” might have helped the story
look like something a freshman journalism student wouldn't get a “C”
on.

Let's just accept it now: Poll season
is about to begin. Fourteen month of polls. Straw polls, phone
polls, skewed polls, favorable polls, fake polls and polls with
margins of error so big they can't mean anything. Here's one
suggesting that Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are tied in Florida, with
Romney slightly ahead of Obama. Ugh.

The clock is
ticking for Troy Davis (literally — Georgia is going to kill him at
7 p.m.), despite these facts: “Since his conviction, seven of nine
witnesses have changed or recanted their testimony, some have said
they were coerced by police to testify against Davis and some say
another man committed the crime. No physical evidence linked Davis to
the crime.” Davis' attorneys have asked for a polygraph test in a
final attempt at proving his innocence.

Utah's alcohol laws already were
unique. You can't order a double, or a stiff drink; happy hours and
any other drink discounts, even for 3.2 beer, are illegal; licensed
restaurants must use electronic ID scanners on patrons who look as if
they're under 35 to make sure they're 21.